Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Denise Williams, Sophie Marceau

After the unbearable wait, 007 is finally back on the big screen! The James Bond series is now in it's 33rd year, an achievement unique in the movie industry. Nothing even comes close despite an almost complete change of actors, directors, and producers. Though five different people have played James Bond, public enthusiasm for the character continues undiminished.

The opening scene is almost always dramatic, and here, it featured London's magnificent Millennium Dome. The spy hero fell onto a replica of the roof from the ropes of a hot air balloon carrying a Bond villain, played by actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta. The rooftop drama will come as the climax to a high speedboat chase up the River Thames, A big bang to the start of a magnificent movie.

The villian is Renard, a living dead who walks around with a bullet lodged in his head. It numbs his senses so he can feel no pain. However, his villian character is a rather under-developed, and I'm afraid the stage belongs to the totally gorgeous Sophie Marceau as Elektra King, the daughter of a millionaire industrialist who was killed. Bond is assigned to protect the babe, as he believes she will be the next target. Another Bond babe is Denise Williams as Dr Christmas Jones, who attempts to prove that you can be a rocket/nuclear scientist with an attitude and struts around in a tank top and short shorts, and yeah, don't forget the pouty lips (silicon induced, perhaps?). I find Dr Christmas rather one-dimensional. She just tries too hard to show that she is this smart gal who can defuse bombs and it's unbelievable that she can fall so easily to Bond's charms when she is a sworn man-hater. And why do the Bond girls always have to have such 'unconventional' names? Remember Pussy Galore?

We see more of M (Judi Dench), Bond's boss, who barely lets her motherly compassion seep through for her concern for Elektra. Thank goodness she didn't get too mushy, for that would not be becoming of the head of MI6. Of course, we always expect some sophisticated gadgets from Q, and sadly, we may see the last of Q here as he plans to retire, but not before Bond totally trashed his high-tech 'fishing boat'.. He had introduced his protégé, R, (played by the delightful John Cleese) a rather dafty and smart-alec fella.

The use of subtle humour is delightful, like when Bond gave Moneypenny a cigar and she says: I know exactly where to put it. Never mind if you find the storyline lame or complicated, watching Bond save the world is trilling enough, for a Bond movie never fails with its trills and spills, and I see no reason why the James Bond formula can not continue indefinitely.